Fight for MÄR-Heaven!
by Chaoshime
Summary: After having strange dreams, Sora gets transported to a world called MÄR-Heaven. He chooses to fight against the terrorizing Chess Pieces but in the process meets up with an old friend.
1. The Gateway Opens!

**Well, since this story was the only one to get a vote on the poll, here you guys go. (And as an apology for the lack of updates and since I really want to upload something on my birthday.) Hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

**The dream started off the same **way it always did. The four-year-old boy was playing a game of catch with a girl who was three. Unfortunately the boy couldn't see the girl's face, something the boy got used to. Even so, not being able to see the girl's face made him a bit sad. Mainly because while he knew for a fact that he knew the girl, he didn't recognize the girl. That's what made him a bit more sad.

"Hey," the brunet boy said. "How come you don't tell me who you are?"

The girl just laughed as she tossed the baseball to the boy. "Aw come on, why would I do that? Especially if you already know. It's not _my_ fault you don't remember."

"Then why not help me remember?" he asked, throwing the ball back. "If we're friends then how come you're trying to stay a secret?"

"I'm not trying to stay a secret silly," the girl giggled. "Besides, I'm sure that no matter what happens, we're still going to be friends right? It'll all work out."

The boy wanted to inquire more, but the dream ended right then. Just like it always did. Leaving the now fifteen-year-old brunet waking up in a sweat. Sora sat up in bed then ran a hand through his spiky caramel brown hair. This was, what? The tenth night in a row he had that dream?

But what did it all mean? Sure he had had some strange dreams in the past, all before major things happened that drastically changed his life, but this one was one of the weirdest. What mostly bothered him was that he didn't know what to make of it.

Sora let out a long sigh as he got up. He got dressed for the day then grabbed some breakfast. Once he was done he said goodbye to his mom then headed out.

* * *

Sora met up with Riku after he had bought himself some ice cream from the local ice cream parlor.

"Hey Riku, do you remember if there was another girl we would play with as kids?"

Riku, who was finishing off his chocolate swirl, looked at Sora. Sora had stopped eating his cotton candy flavored ice cream and was looking off into the distance with a frown on his face.

"You mean other than Kairi and Selphie?" Riku thought for a minute. "Nope. I don't really recall anyone. All the other kids never liked going to the island where we would all play. Why do you ask?"

"It's just…I've been having these weird dreams lately."

"Dreams as in…?"

Sora told him about his dreams of playing catch with the girl. Riku frowned in thought.

"No I don't remember anybody like that. Heck I don't even remember you even playing catch with anyone _ever._ I just remember the two of us sword fighting all the time. Which, as we both know, paid off a good amount given what we've been through."

Sora chuckled knowing what he was talking about. Course not all the memories were pleasant but still.

"Yeah that's true."

"Anyway though, you sure you didn't just make her up?"

Sora made a sour expression. "No," he said. "No I know for a fact I didn't. She's real but…I still can't recall who she is."

"You try asking around? Maybe someone else remembers her."

"Nah…I think I'll just forget about it for now. Who knows, maybe I'll figure out who she is sometime later on."

Riku shrugged. "If you say so." Then the two went back to their ice cream.

* * *

It was around noon when Sora finally remembered something about the girl in his dreams. He was actually playing catch with Ms. Garner's kids, Skylar and Landon, on the beach.

Sora tossed the ball to Landon, who caught it in his newly bought baseball glove.

"Well well," Sora chuckled as he caught the ball in his own glove. "Look who's getting better."

"Darn right," Landon grinned as Skylar caught the ball. "We've been practicing."

"Really? Thought you two would be practicing your gaming skills rather than your catching skills from what I've heard." Sora laughed at the twins' expressions. "Aw come on, you know I'm kidding around."

"Oh yeah? Take this then!"

Skylar threw the ball as hard as he could…only to have it soar over Sora's head and straight into the water.

"Oops," he said.

"No worries I'll get it." Sora waded into the water until it reached his waist and grabbed the ball. "Next time don't try throwing so hard," he laughed as he threw it to Landon. But instead of seeing Landon catch it, Sora saw a certain three-year-old girl catch it with a big grin on her face.

"Aw come on," she laughed, waving her glove tauntingly with the ball clutched in it. "Maybe _you_ just have to work on catching it better. Don't you think Sora?"

Sora blinked hard as the girl continued to wave her glove around —a big smile on her face that showed one of her chipped teeth and two missing teeth, big light gold eyes shining with pride and —

"Hey Sora? You okay?"

Sora shook his head and the image of the girl vanished, quickly being replaced with Landon, standing there with a confused look on his face with his brother next to him, mirroring his expression.

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied, making his way back to the beach. "Just…got distracted that's all."

"Mom says that's a bad thing while in the water," Skylar reminded him. "You can drown or something if you're not paying attention."

"Yeah yeah. Come on, let's get back to the game."

Landon and Skylar both grinned at the suggestion.

* * *

The forest was always dark at night. The only natural source of light would be the moon but the trees seemed to enjoy blocking out most of it. All their branches were stretched out, as if eager to catch as much moonlight as they could, leaving anything under them in near darkness.

Personally, the girl liked that.

For years she would walk around the forest at night, moving as silently as a ghost. In fact, sometimes she'd find amusement in scaring anyone who also dared to venture through the forest at night, watching them shriek in fear then hurriedly dash to escape the dark maze they felt they were in. Which was true, to anyone who didn't know his or her way around the forest, day or night, it would be like trying to find one's way out of a maze.

But she never had that problem. She had managed to learn her way around long ago.

Once she worked her way to the middle of the forest, then making sure that no one was around, she let out a long sigh. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a medallion on a small silver chain.

"Please," the girl murmured, clenching the medallion tightly in her hands. "Let this work." The girl took a deep breath then focused. She only had one shot at this. If it didn't, well, things were only going to get worse. "ÄRM," she spoke. "Hear my wish. Bring forth the one I seek. The one from another world."

The medallion glowed brightly in the girl's hands. The light emitting from the accessory then shot into the air, creating a large beacon of light that could easily been seen, so the second she knew this was complete, she had to flee before she was captured again. She watched the light beacon shine until it completely vanished. The second she did, she prayed that it worked, then quickly left before she could be captured by her enemies. As she ran, she kept a tight grip on the medallion.

_Soon,_ she thought as she ran. _Soon we'll be connected._

* * *

It was dinnertime when Sora first heard the strange voice. He was casually eating with his mom when he heard the voice.

_"Soon…"_ the voice said, shocking him so badly he dropped his spoon. It was strange. It felt like he heard the voice normally, with his ears, but somehow, somehow he knew he heard the voice in his _head._

"Sora," his mother asked, her tone showing concern as she placed a hand on his. "Are you alright?"

Sora couldn't bring himself to answer. That voice…he knew that voice from somewhere…but where? Where had he heard it before?

_"Soon,"_ the voice repeated, this time little over a whisper. _"…Connected."_

Then thing Sora knew, his mother, who wore a look of concern, was waking him up.

"Wha…what happened?"

"You suddenly passed out on me," his mother said, sitting down. "Are you alright?"

_So then…all that wasn't real?_ he thought as he scratched his head. Why did his head hurt so much? Did he hit his head when he passed out?

Sora told his mom that he was going to lie down since his head was hurting. She frowned for a moment then told him that if he needed anything, he just needed to shout. Sora nodded then headed up to his room. Once up there, he just let himself fall onto his bed. Oddly enough he felt exhausted all of a sudden.

Soon Sora's thoughts wandered back to what had just happened. Did he truly imagine that voice? For some strange reason, he knew that wasn't the cause. That voice was real. But the part that bothered him the most was why it seemed to be familiar. He heard that voice before. But from where?

Sora felt a shiver travel down his spine. Then, before he could dwell on it much further, everything around him seemed to go dark. Sora found himself in complete darkness.

"Wha…what is this?"

_ "Connected…"_

Sora flinched. The same voice from before. Sensing something behind him, Sora turned around and came face to face with not a Heartless, not a Nobody, not anything he had ever encountered before. Floating there in midair was a being shrouded in a red hooded cloak with long white bony fingers, a white face with crosses for eyes and it's tongue sticking out. Sora noticed that there were some chains wrapped around the thing.

_"Tunnel…open,"_ the thing rumbled in a low voice. Just as it said that, a large silver door appeared that had chains and the same cloaked being crafted onto the top. But that wasn't all that changed. As soon as the door appeared, the darkness Sora was in vanished and was replaced with the scenery of a large grassy meadow, mountains in the distance, and a lake to Sora's right. For a split moment he could have sworn he smelled the flowers that were all around him.

Sora watched in shock as the cross-eyed being tossed something at him. He looked to see it was a die. It landed on a one.

_"Die says one,"_ the thing said. _"So only one can enter. That one be you, yes?"_

"Hold up now," Sora said, finally finding his voice. "Just where does that door even lead to?"

_"You want to know meaning behind dreams of girl, yes?" _the thing said, causing Sora to involuntarily shudder. _"Go through and find out. Worry not, you come back to world later. Die says one, only you can go. You in?"_

Sora bit his lip. This thing was giving him a chance to find out the meaning behind his dreams. Plus it said he would be able to come back. But what if it was lying? It certainly didn't look all that trustworthy. And he couldn't really just leave his mom, not again. But deep down he knew this thing wasn't going to allow him to go tell his mom.

Clenching his fists, Sora stepped up to the door and placed a hand on it. The metal felt like ice under the palm of his hand. As if brought on by his touch, the chains on the door broke and it slowly began to creak open, letting loose a strong wind that blew right at him. Sora was quickly blinded by a strong light that shone from within; he had to shield his eyes as a result.

Eyes closed, Sora stepped through the open door, the wind coming from in almost beckoning him through the door. As he stepped through, he only hoped he was making a good choice.

Meanwhile, the girl, who unfortunately had gotten captured while fleeing the woods, was staring at her medallion. She watched as it began to crack and soon…broke entirely. This however, only brought a big smile to her face. This was good. It worked. It _really_ worked.

The girl got up, gripped the steel bars on the window as she looked up at the moon.

"Soon," she smiled. "Things are going to change."

* * *

**Well guys, that's all for now! No worries I'll upload the second chapter tomorrow before I head to class (ugh, it goes from 5 pm to 1 am _ Plus I have a class that day that starts at 9 am. Lol what is sleep? XP) Anyway, the poll is still open if you guys still want to vote. You can vote up to four choices if you'd like. Also, while I'm at it.  
**

**Dreams from the heart! chapter 4-in progress-I really have _no_ idea when this will be done. I haven't gotten a lot of inspiration for it so...yeah... **

**A Stranded Adventure chapter 23-in progress-Same as above. I hit a snag in regards to the chapter and I don't know how to get over it. Sorry guys :(**


	2. The Chess Pieces

**Whoops, forgot to upload this like I said I would ^_^; Sorry guys school work got the best of me again. Sorry you guys! D:  
**

* * *

**A soft breeze stirred Sora awake.** His ocean blue eyes fluttered open and the first two things his mind registered: the clear blue sky he was staring at and the fact he was laying down on grass. Sora sat up, rubbed his slightly aching head, and looked around more. He noticed the meadow he was sitting in was the same on that he saw when that weird door and cloaked figure showed up.

_This place…looks beautiful,_ Sora thought, looking around.

Sora stood up then began to walk around. Okay, so just where was he? A new world, that part was obvious to him, but exactly _what_ world was the question. Hopefully he could find a town or something to find out where he was.

"How is this place going to help me figure out my dreams?" Sora muttered as he walked.

As he did he noticed that the field he was standing in was the same one he had seen when that door showed up. And for what felt like hours, Sora just wondered around the field, trying to locate a town in order to figure out just where he was. Soon though, Sora's wish of finding a town was granted when he spotted a house not too far. Glad to have finally found a place that could help him get on the right track, Sora ran as hard as he could towards the town.

But as he got closer, he saw that the only thing he was running towards was what was _left_ of a town. Sora was horrified to see that most of the buildings were burned down and every building was nearly coated in blood. The worst part? The blood appeared to be fresh.

While his mind was flashing back to the burned ruins of the village back in The Land of Dragons, Sora walked through the wreckage. He had to fight to keep his eyes forward, not wanting to glance at the splatters of blood that painted the buildings' walls and the ground. Sora was beginning to wonder if there was anyone alive in this town.

Sora's question was answered when he spotted someone standing in front of a burned down house.

"Terrible isn't it?" the person said as Sora walked up to them. "I only just finished burying all the bodies I could find."

Sora didn't say anything. He just turned his head in the direction the person was looking. He saw a field, possibly used for farming in the past, only to see it filled with piles of dirt and hastily made grave markers for all of them.

"If you want answers, how about we leave first? Being around all this bloodshed makes me feel ill."

Sora didn't complain.

* * *

"So just who are you?"

Right now Sora and the mysterious hooded figure had walked into a nearby forest in order to talk. All along the way the figure hadn't spoken a word.

The figure turned around and removed the large hood that was shadowing their face. With the hood gone, Sora could now see that the figure was a girl probably around the age of fourteen with long light blue hair. Her face was hidden behind a blank white mask with no eye or mouth hole whatsoever. Sora also noticed the silver knight chess piece earring dangling from her left ear.

"I'm an ally," the girl said. "And I'm also the one who called you here to begin with."

Sora let out an involuntary shudder. That voice…he recognized it now. It was the same one he had heard speaking to him before that weird door showed up.

"Hold up, _you _'called' me here? So then you got that weird door to appear?"

The girl nodded. "Yes that's right. You'll find that within this world, magical items known as ÄRM can do many different things." The girl held out her arm, Sora noticed a silver bracelet on her wrist. "Observe. Weapon ÄRM—Prydell!"

The bracelet glowed and soon two gold and silver _patas_ appeared on the girl's arms, each with a ten inch blade etched with an ever color changing gem on the gauntlets.

"As you can see," the girl said holding up her arms so Sora could get a better look at the _patas._ "The ÄRM that I just invoked was that of a weapon. However there are other types of ÄRM. Those types are weapons, nature, dimension, darkness, holy, guardian, unique, and then there are certain ÄRM that cannot fall under any of these categories."

Sora nodded. The girl then dismissed the _patas_ and Sora noticed the silver bracelet returned.

"Okay now, dimension ÄRM are ÄRM that are capable of bending space and even opening up different dimensions. It was a dimension ÄRM that brought you here. Nature ÄRM utilize the power of nature in one-way or another. Darkness ÄRM cast curses on your opponents but come with a nasty price in exchange. Holy ÄRM can protect the user against harm or break darkness ÄRM."

It took Sora a minute to process all that, but he nodded, signaling that he understood.

"So the ÄRM you just used was a weapon ÄRM…and the ÄRM that brought me here was a dimension ÄRM is that right?"

The girl nodded. "Correct. There's also another thing about ÄRM that you should know about. In this world, a way to measure a person's strength is the amount of magical power they have. Magical power is the energy that is produced and released when a person utilizes a ÄRM's special powers. As that wielder gains experience and through the use of more powerful ÄRM that every energy can seep into a person, acting like a scent of their power.

"However, even though you've clearly never used an ÄRM, you yourself have your own special version of magical power. That's good, that way you can blend in better while you're here."

"That's great and all," Sora stated. "But just why did you call me here?"

"You saw what happened to Elf Town, nearly everyone slaughtered," the girl said. "Well the people responsible, they call themselves the Chess Pieces. And they're not done." The girl gestured to the town with her head. "That was just a warning. And if someone doesn't stop them, the rest of this world will end up just like Elf Town. This was they're way of declaring war once again."

"Whoa now, _again_? You mean they did this _before_?"

The girl nodded. "That's right. Six years ago they did the exact same thing before announcing the War Games."

"War Games?" Sora frowned. "That sounds far from good."

"It is _very _far from good. You see, first they inspire fear and terror through the means of their blood-filled rampage throughout MÄR. Then, once that is done, they propose this _game_ in order to kill of those left who wish to rebel against them, gain more ÄRM in order to make themselves more powerful, and to prove their power even more." The girl let out a deep breath. "Thankfully six years ago they were thwarted, but now they've risen up again. And I personally believe that this time, this time we can finish them off for good."

"Well count me in," Sora said. "I want to help as best I can. Just tell me how."

"By beating them at their own game. Literally. Take part in the War Games; beat them, and then help fight to beat them once and for all. I _know_ you can do it." The girl let out a small chuckle. "I have a strong feeling that you've done a lot more I the past."

"Speaking of which, just how do you even _know_ me? You keep talking like we've met before."

"That we'll save for later. We have other things to attend to first."

"Like what?"

"Hold out your hand." Sora, hesitantly, did just that as the girl came over and placed a silver ring that had a flame-like pattern engraved into it onto his outstretched hand.

"What is this?" Sora wondered out loud, examining the ring further.

"An ÄRM," the girl answered. "More specifically a Guardian ÄRM named Agni."

"Guardian…ÄRM?"

The girl nodded. "Think of Agni as just another Summon Charm. Simply invoke his power and he shall appear. But a warning, Agni is a very powerful Guardian; so controlling him is very difficult. To someone who is very inexperienced, summoning Agni would be very disastrous. Course I have the utmost confidence that you are fully capable of taming such a Guardian with no problem."

"And you're just handing over such a strong ÄRM to me…with no strings attached?"

"That's right. If you're going to stay in this world, as well as make a difference, you're going to need some extra help to do just that _and_ blend in better. Seeing as how there's hardly anyone within MÄR, minus young children naturally, who don't possess their own ÄRM."

"Gee, thanks I guess."

"Anything to help. Hopefully you won't really need to summon him. But take this as well." The girl then handed him a small silver chain with a charm that looked identical to his Keyblade. "You can use that to pretend that your Keyblade is just another ÄRM. To help avoid suspicion."

"Thanks again then."

"It's no problem. If there's anything I can do to help ensure the safety of this world then I'll do it. And because of that." The girl then bowed right in front of Sora. "I know that you help protect the worlds from darkness and such. And so, I beg of you, please help save this world from the darkness of the Chess Pieces."

Sora blinked, taken aback by her actions. Not just that, but he could really hear the pleading tone in her voice.

"Hey. No worries I will," Sora smiled. The girl straightened up and despite wearing a mask, Sora could just tell that she was smiling.


End file.
